Ender's return
by Rick M. Hunter
Summary: What if Valentine was never able to convince Peter to keep Ender in space? AU after the end of the Formic war Possible Ender/Petra if I can find a way to reunite them.
1. Chapter 1

"Peter, why are you so intent on bringing Ender back?" Valentine asked her older brother.

"Why wouldn't I?" he wore a smug grin on his face as he turned to look at Valentine.

Valentine had been persuading Peter for the past few days to keep Ender in space, but she failed every time, "He'll be wanted as a general for every nation outside of the Warsaw pact, and targeted by the Russians!"

Peter waved his hand, "I know, but he will only be the leader of one army. My army."

Valentine shook her head, "What about the assassination attempts?"

"There won't be any."

"What if there are?"

"Then I'll destroy Russia."

Valentine took out her desk and showed it to Peter, "If he comes back, I'll show the entire world what a monster Locke truly is."

On the desk was all the information from Ender's monitor, pictures of the skinned squirrels, and evidence to show Peter's moral instability. His grin turned into a sneer, "If you even think about it I'll-"

"You'll what? Kill me?" Valentine asked as she put the desk back by her side, "You know that I have it, so that if I die, it goes public."

Peter grinned once more, "There are other ways to skin a cat," he told her as he got up from the table and left.

Valentine was filled with dread, _I wonder what he is going to do, _she looked at the desk, "Oh, Ender, I hope you forgive me."

* * *

It had been three days since Valentine's last confrontation with Peter, and ,surprisingly, Peter had disappeared from the face of the earth, "Valentine, have you seen Peter?" Mother asked as she came down the steps.

"I don't know," she answered as she looked at her mother, "I haven't seen him since last night,"

The two nights prior, Peter had just submitted the 'Locke Proposal' and last night, he told Valentine to have Demosthenes announce that she was behind the Locke proposal.

"I wonder where that boy could be," Mother said, snapping Valentine out of her thoughts.

"So do I," Valentine responded.

There was a knock on the door, "Valentine, would you be a dear and answer that?"

"Yes mother," she got up from the couch and answered the door.

"Is there a Valentine Wiggin here?" A man asked. He was wearing a Hegemony military uniform.

Valentine was shocked that they were asking for her, then she remembered the medal she had received nearly two years ago, and was relived, "That's me," she responded in a calm voice.

Two men that were behind him walked up and grabbed her, "You are under arrest for conspiracy against the Hegemony, and instigation of war."

"On what grounds!" she shouted. She tried to break free from their grasp.

The first man read her rights and the others dragged her towards the car.

Valentine's mother ran to the door after hearing Valentine shout, "Stop!" she shouted.

The first man turned around to see her mother running at them, "I'm going to ask you to go back inside Ma'am."

"Where are you taking my daughter?"

"Go back inside."

"Where are you-"

The man pulled out his sidearm and aimed at the mother, stopping her instantly. He pulled the trigger and a dart was shot into her shoulder. She fell to the ground, "Let's go."

"Mother!" Valentine shouted as she was shoved into the car.

When all the men got into the car, they zoomed away from the house.

* * *

Peter came walking down the street and saw his mother on the ground, "I told those idiots to be discreet," he said as he walked over to her.

He knelt down and shook her awake, "Peter..." she groaned, "They...took Valentine."

He knew he had to play stupid, "Who did?" he asked with concern on his face.

"They looked... like Hegemony," she answered, "they shot me... with a dart."

"Rest mother," Peter said, "I'm sure the Hegemony would have a good reason to take Valentine."

"You're... right... I need to rest," and without another word his mother fell back asleep due to the drugs.

"You wouldn't have said that if you weren't high," Peter commented as he took her into the house.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, on popular demand, I have decided to put the second chapter of Ender's return at the top of my to write list, I hope you enjoy**

* * *

Ender was sitting on his bed, like he did most days now, he had most of his team there, Bean, Dink, Hot soup, and Petra. He didn't forgive himself for breaking her, pushing her so hard. If only he could have gone back, and stopped it from happening, but, alas, he could not. That meant that he would forever have to live with the fact that he had broken the only other girl in his life besides Valentine, "You okay Ender?" he heard the small voice of Bean ask.

Ender was broken out of his thoughts and looked at the almost 11-year-old boy, though he still looked like he could be in kindergarten, "I am fine Bean, just thinking about the past."

"What there to think about?" Dink asked.

"I..." Ender couldn't answer, all he could do was look at Petra, who in return looked away.

Petra was still ashamed that she had broken like she did, in front of the teachers, in front of her fellow squad leaders, and, especially, in front of Ender.

Bean knew what Ender was thinking, "Don't worry about the past," he said before anyone else could pick up on it, "all we have to do is worry about the future."

The older boys, with exception of Ender, groaned, "The only thing I can think about is that we have to go to school," Dink said, "We're war heroes, and we'll have to go to school!"

Hot soup laughed, "Stop groaning," he said as he put his arm around his friend, "maybe you'll be able to get a girl with the title, 'Dink Meeker, Squadron leader with no balls!"

In response Dink elbowed Soup in the abdomen, "And maybe you'll find a boyfriend with, 'Hot soup, as feisty as a redhead."

The two started grappling with each other, while the other three in the room paid them no attention. Ender saw Petra mouth, 'I'm sorry,' from behind Bean, and nodded at her.

"So, what are you going to do first when you get planetside?" Bean asked Ender.

"I don't know," he responded as he put his head back on his pillow, "go home, see my sister."

"She must be important if you talk about her rather than your parents."

"She is."

* * *

Meanwhile on earth, Valentine woke up inside of her holding cell, no different than any other day for the past week, but she could feel something was different. the guards seemed unusually tensed, "What's going on?" she asked as she sat up.

"Shut up!" the guard to the right answered, "you'll find out soon enough."

Oh, that just warmed Valentine up inside, why couldn't the guards ever be smarter than her? she asked herself as she stood up.

A minute later a familiar face walked in the door, "Peter," she sneered.

Peter was wearing what looked to be a Hegemony uniform, with alterations to make it look more formal, and had a small cape on the back of it, "Did you hear? It seems that Locke has been nominated as one of the candidates for Hegemony."

"By nominated, you mean already guaranteed," Valentine said as she sat back down, "You do know that you'll have to reveal yourself when you accept the nomination."

Peter laughed, "Oh, I know, and what perfect day to announce who Locke is, than on the day of our dear brother's return?"

Valentine glared at Peter, "Using Ender to further your need for power," she walked up to the bars and spit in his face, "You're lower than dirt."

"No," Peter said, "you are," he started walking away

"As soon as Ender steps foot onto this planet, those files will get out?!" Valentine shouted.

This caused Peter to laugh, he then turned around, "What files?"

"The files that I collected-"

"Wrong!" Peter shouted with a sadistic smile, "Those files don't exist, from records, they never existed."

A streak of fear went through Valentines face, "The IF would have them!"

"I have friends in high places," Peter said, "oh, and you don't have to worry about Demosthenes , it seems that writing her is right up my alley," Peter walked through the door leaving the defeated Valentine to wallow in her misery.


	3. The voyage home

**Sorry about the long wait, I really didn't have any idea what to write for this story until just now, and this part took me out of my comfort zone, cause I do not like writing romance, especially between people younger than sixteen.**

* * *

Ender was getting ready to board the shuttle that would inevitably take him back to earth, "Are you ready to go home hero?" Petra asked as she stood next the him.

"I don't think I'm a hero," Ender replied as he took Petra's hand in his, they were alone at the moment, or at least didn't have any of the others that were going home with them around to see their affection towards each other.

"You are, everyone knows it," she whispered into his ear, "The only one that doesn't know it is you."

"I killed so many people, not just our own, but the Formics as well."

"You had to, those buggers would have come back and killed us."

"Would they?" Ender asked, "they haven't been back for over a hundred years, would they have really come back?" he paused realizing his harsh tone, "I'm sorry," he told Petra, "I just can't help but ask myself, 'What if the Formics wanted to communicate with us?"

Ender had had dreams about the formics during the final parts of the wars, but after the war ended, he stopped having them. It made him feel relieved, but also, strangely, alone at the same time.

"Don't bother with those questions, Andrew. Let the historians try and figure it out, we just need to live for today, be teenagers."

"I don't know how to do any of that," Ender told Petra, "I know how to fight, I know how to kill, and destroy my enemies."

"You know so much more than that," Petra said, the door opened and she pulled her hand away from his.

"Did we interrupt something?" Hot soup asked as he, Bean, and Crazy Tom walked in with their bags slung over their shoulders.

Bean's bag was almost on the floor, even though he had the strap on it adjusted to be the smallest length.

"No, we were just having a friendly talk," Ender told the three. he and Petra had decided to keep their closeness a secret from the others, though Ender thought that Bean had figured it out already. If he didn't, it meant he just decided not to care about it.

Petra took a deep breath, "So, you pricks ready to go home?"

"Who you callin a prick baby?" Soup asked with a playful tone, "Can't wait to get home, imagine what the girls will be like?"

Bean sighed, "Unlike you dome-heads, I don't think girls will be all over us, the governments will though."

"What do you mean?" Petra asked.

"Earth is on the brink of war, the deterrent will be Ender," Bean explained, "whoever has him will win any war, some countries might even make sure no one can get him."

"No one would kill Earth's savior," Tom said as he walked over and patted Ender's shoulder, "stop being a conspiracy theorist and let's go home."

Bean took a deep breath, "I hate being the youngest one here," he muttered under his breath, the followed Tom.

Ender put his hand on Bean's shoulder, "Thank you."

"Why?" Bean asked, "I was trying to convince you to stay here," he shrugged Ender's hand off and continued walking.

Soup raised an eyebrow, "Why is he so cold? You would think he would stop being so tight after the war was over."

"Everyone deals with war differently," Petra said as she grabbed Ender's wrist, "Come on, we don't want to be late for our own party."

Ender nodded, and after Soup passed them held Petra's hand and walked with her into the shuttle. The other three took seats near the front, but Ender and Petra sat in the back where it would be hard to see them.

Ender rested his head on Petra's shoulder, and she took her hand away from his and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. The two fell asleep a few minutes into the voyage.

* * *

Peter was waiting inside of a closed room at the spaceport that Ender was supposed to land at, "It won't be long now," he thought aloud, "until I have the entire world under my control."

* * *

**In the Russian Polemarch's office.**

A young man was watching the news, it was playing the news about Ender finally coming home, "I don't care about that weakling," he said out loud as he toyed with the gun on his desk, "I want Bean."

"Commander Achilles," a soldier said in poor English, "We recieved confirmation that Julian Delphiki, otherwise known as 'Bean' is aboard the next shuttle from Eros, bound for earth."

"Well, it is about time."


End file.
